IIW History 1948-1958

CHAPTER II

ORGANISATION AND WORKING METHODS OF THE IIW

r. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANISATION.

• 1 1 1 ~1~ 'Int~rn ational Ins.titute of \ Velcling is governed by a body called t he Gover/ling Council, on whi ch each member country is represented by a delegation of t}ijee and has one vote. The Council meet s, normally , t wice a year at the beginning and encl of the Annual Assembly. Th e first meeting deals with admin– ist rative matters, such as the election of new members, the approval of the accounts and the budget and the annual report of t he act ion taken by t he Exe– cutive Council and the Secret a ri at s. The second meeting, to \\'hich t he Cha ir– men of the Commissions are invited, is mainl y concerned with t he reports a ncl recommendations of the Commissions. From among its own members , the Governing Council elect s the H onorary Officers who, with the Founder President and Vice-President and two last Pre– sidents, constitute the Executive Council. This body is empower ed t o act fo r the Governing Council bet ween meetings of the latter and it normally meet s h vo or three times bet ween Annual Assemblies . The p resent composition o[ this body is as foll ows : The P resident, The four Vice-P residents, The Treasurer, The Secret ary-General and the Scientific and Technical Secret ary, The Founder President - P . GOLDSCHMIDT-CLERMONT, The Founder \'ice-P resident - A. PORTEVIN, The two last P residents - H . E . J AEGER (1951-1954), H . BIERS (1954-195.7). The t erm of offi ce of all H onorary Offi cers is three years but the Treasurer and the two Secret aries are indefinitely re-eligible. The Secret ary-Generalship h as been held, since the fo undati on of the Institute in 1948, by the United Kin gdom and the legal seat of the Institute is therefore in London. Origin all y , the whole of the secret arial organisation r est ed on the Secretary-Gen eral, but, with the development of }he t echnical acti v ities, it be– came necessary t o divide the work in 1950. While the Scientific and Technical Secretary's functions are sufficiently defined by his title, the duti es of the Secre– tary-General are primarily concerned with the membership and finances of the Institute and with the organisation of the Annual Assembli es and meetings of